Sorry for not updating so long, have been busy with the university and stuff. Here's the first part of the chapter :) enjoy.
Chapter 6
"Miss Reynolds, for a word, please"
Stephanie turned around. Hetty was watching her attentively. She knew something serious is coming up. Without a word, she followed Hetty to her desk.
Callen watched them, concerned.
"Something's wrong, Hetty?" asked Stephanie, when they were pretty far from anyone to hear.
"Not particularly, miss Reynolds,"
"You know you can call me Stephanie, right? You've done too much for me to still keep calling me 'miss Reynolds'," interrupted Hetty the blonde.
Hetty hasn't responded, but she had an analyzing look in her eyes. Immediately, Stephanie got uncomfortable.
"I just want to make sure you've learned your priorities, miss Reynolds. The priorities that are different from those at your last … work place," Hetty explained.
Stephanie looked at the older woman with questioning eyes. She hasn't realized what Hetty was talking about, until she saw how serious the woman was.
"You mean…my training? You know that I trained at your base," said Stephanie, still not understanding the purpose of the conversation.
"I'm more concerned about the … legal part of your training. You're not a part of that company anymore, miss Reynolds. I pulled a lot of strings to get you here…"
"That Director of yours was watching me every free second he got. I skipped the physical and tactical training, Hetty, but I never ignored the legal part," said Stephanie. Her smile disappeared, she knew it was an issue that she hasn't passed the usual training that all agents did. But she had to learn the legal aspects of the job – it was a new part of her life that she needed to follow.
It was difficult for her – from 14 years she was on her own – and then, the bad company she was dragged into and all the horrible things she did… she wasn't proud, but she knew it has gotten hew where she is now.
She promised herself she would never regret a thing in her life – and it was one of her most important principles.
"You will become a great NCIS agent, miss Reynolds, if you will be the same girl I knew 2 years ago," spoke Hetty after a few minutes of silence.
A loud whistle broke the monotonous atmosphere in the NCIS operational center.
"And I so hoped I wouldn't hear it today," sighed Kensi.
Stephanie took a sip from her coffee and looked at Kensi with a question in her eyes. It was almost the end of the working day...
"We have a case, new girl," explained Deeks to her.
…apparently, not for them.
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Really? That's how you're gonna call me now?" she asked Deeks.
"Well, I can think of something else," he winked at her.
"He's just happy we're not picking on him anymore," joked Sam, standing from his seat, just like everybody else.
"Which means you're gonna pick on me?" asked Stephanie, amused.
"Oh, yes, " answered Callen for his partner.
Stephanie saw his large smile.
"You're really enjoying it, aren't you?" asked Kensi, also noticing Callen's smile. "What, the hand still hurts?" she laughed.
"Funny, Kens, really funny," Callen answered, annoyed. "What do we have, Eric?" he asked the tech man.
"Nothing good, like any other time."
Stephanie was watching the photos on the big screen. A face of a beautiful woman was shown in big dimensions.
"This is Rebecca Lawrence," spoke Eric, after everyone took their places.
"Rebecca Lawrence – was kidnapped 2 days ago by a small group of people – it is estimated that there were 4 of them," took the lead Nell.
"Yeah, but what do we have to do with that?" asked again Sam.
"Her husband is Jason Lawrence; he works as an analyst at a military base. For two days before Rebecca was kidnapped, Jason hasn't shown himself at the base and … , " continued Nell.
"…he pretty much seemed kidnapped too." finished Eric.
"But?" asked Callen, looking at the tech man.
"But we had a match at his credit card – this morning."
"LAPD would have taken this case, but for us came an order – Jason Lawrence knows information that shouldn't leave his mouth so they gladly have offered this case to us," finished Eric.
"So it's a double kidnapping?"
"It doesn't seem so, Deeks. His credit card … and we caught him on a street camera. He has a really odd behavior," said Nell and brought on the big screen a camera footage.
A tall man with dark hair exited a shop and looked around very suspicious. After 2 seconds, he seemed to notice the camera. Keeping his head low, he started walking.
"And then we lost him. I couldn't find him anywhere," said Eric, playing with his control.
"He's good," spoke Stephanie for the first time. "Are you sure he's just an analyst? Because he seems like a field operative."
"That's where it gets interesting. He was an operative, being a part of some missions in Iraq. That was until he was injured," informed them Nell.
"Injured…how?"
"You're not gonna believe it. He has no arm. His left arm it's a prosthesis," answered Nell.
"What…the whole arm? Really?!"
Deeks looked at the footage again, not seeing anything that would give Jason Lawrence away.
"Yes, from his shoulder," confirmed Eric.
All of them were looking at the photo of Jason Lawrence, not really believing what they found out.
"What are we waiting for? Aren't we supposed to go somewhere? Find out what happened?" broke out of the reverie Stephanie.
Sam looked at her and smirked. He was starting to like her.
Yes, she was loud and impatient, a little bit arrogant, but she was good – for them. She saved him and Callen, on a new ground, not even knowing them. Even though she said she wasn't alone, he never saw the guys she was helped by. That added to the mystery from where she is and what's her story.
But Sam was a patient man. He knew that someday, she will have enough confidence in them to tell them at least something. Piece by piece, and they will find out about Stephanie Reynolds and her story.
Callen was the same when he started his work as an NCIS agent. And Callen didn't have a history or a past as it is.
It was just a matter of time.
"Right. Ok, Deeks, Kensi, we need to find out more about those two and what the hell happened to them. You go to the military base, find out everything about this guy," ordered Callen, still looking at the picture.
"We're gonna go to the shop he was this morning, find out what he was looking for and maybe he left some clues. Stephanie, you're with us," he informed her, smirking.
"You're sure?" asked Sam, smiling. "Aren't you afraid she'll bite you something else?"
Everyone tried to hold their laugh, but it was really difficult. Callen looked at him, annoyed.
"If you keep it up like this, I'll make you go with Deeks as partner, " answered Callen and smirked again, when he saw Sam's expression.
"Hey! I'm not that bad," interfered the detective.
"Sure you aren't," patted on his shoulder Kensi. "C'mon, big kid!"
Stephanie giggled. This was going to be interesting.
Callen's car stopped in front of a shop for tools. Stephanie got out of the car and looked around, suspicious. Nothing around the shop seemed out of the ordinary. Even the shop was an usual, boring place. What the hell was that Jason doing here and why this specific area?
Her mind was working quickly and her eyes were scanning everything around for a lead on something. But it was useless.
"I don't see anything strange," spoke Sam.
Stephanie looked at her new colleagues. They were doing the same things as she was.
"Tell me about it," said Callen and started walking to the shop. "He was there and most probably, he bought something. Let's find out what."
Sam followed him. Just as Stephanie was going to do the same thing, she stopped.
"I'll be right behind you," she informed the guys. Callen looked at her, a little confused, but thought nothing of it and entered the shop with Sam.
Stephanie leaned on Callen's car, looking absently around. She thought she saw someone and it was bugging her. She couldn't go on without being sure that they weren't followed. A second look across the street had said to her everything she needed to know.
Next to a blue car was a boy. From the looks of it, he was around 18 years old. He was pretending he was writing a text message on his phone, but it was obviously a game. Stephanie saw that his phone was higher than it should be and his fingers weren't moving.
'Who the hell is he?'
She thought for a moment what to do. She should wait for Callen and Sam, but the guy could suspect something. And she was too curious to find out who was he and why was he filming them. She had a feeling it was something important.
She tried not to be too obvious as she was crossing the street. It was just a matter of seconds till the guy will see that she's moving to him. As she was in the middle of the street, the boy finally realized he has been made and, without much thinking, started to run.
'Why are they always running?' she asked herself and followed him.
"Hey, stop! I just want to talk!" she yelled to him.
The guy just looked back and started running even faster, which made Stephanie angry. She quickened her pace.
Callen and Sam got out of the shop without much information.
"He got some instruments, that aren't really saying too much to us," commented Sam.
Callen nodded, but stopped abruptly.
"Where's Stephanie?" he asked.
Sam furrowed his eyebrows. Both of them looked around and finally spotted Stephanie. She was following some guy.
"What the… ?"
Callen and Sam ran after them. Something was off.
Stephanie understood that if she didn't do something quick, the guy will escape from her. Without thinking too much, she took her gun, stopped and throwed it. Her gun had hit the guy right in the back of his head and he fell on the ground.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Stephanie?!" she heard Sam's voice not far from her. She took a glance and saw that the guys were just behind her, but she ignored them. Instead, she approached the guy on the ground, collected her gun, arranged it under her shirt and just after that she turned to Callen and Sam.
"What was that?!" asked Callen angrily.
"He was filming us from the moment we parked our car and I …" she explained.
"That's not what I asked, Stephanie," interrupted her Callen. "You just throwed your gun at him! What if it had fired and killed him?! He was just filming, he wasn't a danger to our us! You could have killed him for nothing."
She looked at Callen, getting angry herself. Ok, her methods weren't really … safe, but she knew what she was doing.
"Listen, I know how this all looks..."
"I don't think you do," spoke Sam.
He was shocked. No other agent would do something like that.
"I knew my gun was on safety latch!" she exclaimed. "And I knew that he'll get away if I don't do something quick, so excuse me for doing it!"
Callen was prepared to say something else to her, but his phone starting ringing.
"We're not finished," he said and pointed a finger in her face. "Yeah, Kens. You're on speaker."
"So… we couldn't find out anything important, just the fact that Jason Lawrence was head over heels in love with his wife and would do anything for her. You know… about all of this, I have a theory..."
"Shoot," said Callen, still looking angrily at Stephanie.
"I have a feeling that when Jason found out that Rebecca is kidnapped, he started looking for her himself. Probably, he knew what the kidnappers wanted from him…"
"Well, not money, obviously. Eric said that their bank accounts are below average, just as their other possessions," said Stephanie, trying to ignore Callen's glances.
"Yeah, most probably, they were after information," commented Kensi. "We got the address of Jason's sister, so I think we'll pay her a visit and see how that goes. Something you found out?"
"Not really that much… he just bought some instruments, which we have no idea for what…" spoke Sam.
"And we have a follower, but he's unconscious right now, thanks to Stephanie. Ok, keep us posted."
Kensi tried to ask him something else, but Callen already hung up the phone.
"That was rude," tried to joke Stephanie.
"I'm still angry, so stop joking around," he told her and kneeled near their suspect, trying to wake him up.
